Introduction: When disability is not a shame. The story we show you is a strong message to society that has to deal with a problem never completely solved. By Piergiorgio Giacovazzo

Loredana:“Please don’t make a sad piece and don’t use a sad music.”

“’I’m not angry, I just feel like I want to live”.

Piergiorgio: Loredana is a woman living in Galliavola (Pavia). She was 17 when she became paraplegic from a car accident.

L: “You miss your independent life your real life the life you were dreaming of”

P: Like Loredana, about 1500 people suffer from spinal cord injury and become paralysed every year. According to the ministry of health, there are currently 80,000 Italians living with paralysis.

P: “Sorry… What music should I use?”

L: “These boots are made for walking”

P: Loredana can’t wait for someone else to do something about this situation and she is fighting every day with her blog “Cure Girls” and her page “Sruotiamoci” to create public awareness about supporting medical research in finding a cure for spinal cord injury.

L: “I think that a big part of the problem is that people don’t believe a cure is possible, but science is proving to us that it is possible also with recent studies from Switzerland proving that the spinal cord can be regenerated . So we only need to support this kind of research with more money and let people know that we can and must do it.”

P: Loredana is not a dreamer. Regeneration of the nervous tissue is no longer unrealistic. In 2002 the European Parliament urged member States to step up funding for research for a cure for spinal cord injury also suggesting that funds could be raised from alcohol tax revenue and from traffic fines as spinal injuries are primarily caused by car accidents, but these recommendations are unheard of in Italy.

L: We shouldn’t come across as dreamers or as those who are being duped. We need to pay attention to this. We are making giant steps in every field and we must do it in this one because it is too important… Paralysis must become reversible”

P: After her accident, Loredana completed a degree in political science and took a Masters degree in local development. She has become a local councillor and now works for a transport company.

L: “I was able to go to college because my mother followed me in days, she came with me standing in the cold or in the classroom next to mine”

P: Like many others in the same condition, Loredana competes in her very own paralympics everyday, out of the spotlight, but she really doesn’t like the image of the paralympic athlete.

L: “Disabled people are shown as superhuman, people that go beyond their limits but this fails to show the difficulties of being disabled and the difficulties of everyday life the one who has to fight with a catheter every day or with the loss of personal autonomy. This should make us think and to ensure that those who organize the Paralympics maybe could try to support research by the sponsors to the benefit of all and not the few”.